A listing of live jazz events, mostly in North Berkshire and South Bucks, PLUS CD reviews from Geoff

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

You have to get it right, Don Wright!

Good Morning Jazz Fans,

Following on from last weeks amazing benefit concert for Zane Cronje, this week we have with The Clive Burton Quintet (or even as part of the quintet this week) 2 of last weeks guest players.

On keyboard will be Ken McCarthy, and joining Clive at the front will be trumpeter Stuart Henderson. Our usual admittance fee of £5 applies, which includes a raffle ticket, and the music starts at 8.30 pm.

I did record last weeks concert, and some copies of this double album of the complete concert will be available soon. I have so far produced 6 and I took Zane a copy yesterday.

Zane is having another hour of Chemo today. Yesterday he was very tired, and uncomfortable, still unable to keep food down, and suffering now from bed sores. He and Margaret send you their love, they certainly need ours at this time.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Being true to my word, and also being grateful to one of the audience of the benefit concert, below is a comment by Alan Peppett on Thursdays concert. I have "lost" email addresses for Max Brittain and John Coverdale in last Decembers computer malfunction (crash!!), so will someone make sure they read it.

Alan wrote;-

Hi Geoff, Thanks for posting the photos, it was a great success last night both musically and financially. I would just like to comment on the superb pairing of messrs. Coverdale & Brittain. What a fascinating combination of skills, the music so tastefully played had me trying to hear every single note - it was that good! For me it was the highlight of the evening, the way they effortlessly changed from solos to accompaniment, in complete harmony with one another, was spellbinding, sublime even. As for the other instrumentalists, they all put in first class performances - and the finale was something else! What a rare opportunity to hear so many talented musicians in one session. A night to remember for sure and a magnanimous and uplifting gesture from all the Musos involved. Let's hope it lifted Zane's spirits to know that so many people were there last night just for his "benefit" Thanks to all the helpers, caterers and yourself for the effort involved and a wonderful night of Jazz. Good on ya! Alan.

Friday, February 18, 2011

A really special evening, not only due to the cause, Zane’s illness, and the large amount of money the event raised, which gob smacked Zane, but also the quality and joy of the music.

I must offer a very special “thank you” too to all of the musicians who gave of their time and talent so freely.

We also had a number of audience members who had not been to Hedsor before, and I do hope that they were awed enough by the quality of the performance that they come again (and again and again) to help us keep Jazz at Hedsor solvent. As was mentioned in the Maidenhead Advertiser, I wanted to see people smiling at Hedsor Last night, and I think you all did that. Some of you, no names, seemed to have a permanent smile attached. Great.

I did record all of the music on my mini disk recorder, and I hope fairly soon to have that available in a purchasable form. Again, this can raise money for Zane.

The Hedsor Social Club is definitely improving under Mark’s guidance. The beer is now very drinkable, and it was not surprising that the musicians who were not playing at the time did seem to be at the bar end of the room!

I won’t write a lot now about last night’s music, perhaps someone else might like to do a review of it anyway, and I will post in into my blog. I will just put up a few of the photos I took of last night’s event. But there were some memorable musical highlights. “A Train” as a finale will be remembered by many I’m sure. The sudden sound of 4 saxophones, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 2 guitars, 2 percussion, bass and keyboard could perhaps become intoxicating! When can I get another fix like that one?

So, to Zane.

I visited him this morning. He was absolutely amazed at the amount raised. Apparently when Margie asked him to guess how much we had raised last night, he started at £300, then £500, and when told “over £1000” he couldn't believe it. When I had suggested to him that we ran a benefit night for him some weeks ago, he really did only expect a few hundred pounds.

Zane now has (of this morning) a new chair that can be electrically operated to get him into comfortable positions. He did look very comfortable for sure! It goes completely flat if required, so he could sleep on it if he wanted to.

He does have a number of chemo sessions lined up in the next 3 weeks or so, so we must all keep him on our thoughts and prayers.

But well done all of you who came and participated in last nights fundraiser for Zane.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Good Morning Viet.... no, sorry, that's some other program!

Good Morning Jazz Fans, and supporters of Hedsor Jazz in particular.

We are now beginning to realize that Zane Cronje’s illness will take him away from the Clive Burton Quintet for a little while, and we have now put into place some interesting and exciting deputy pianists. We thought we would take the opportunity of Zane’s absence by not only having (as we sometimes do) top notch front line soloists, but a few top notch keyboard men too.

Tomorrow, Thursday 10th February, we will have at Hedsor the following personnel, all great players in their own right.

Clive Burton on Trombone, the platform upon which all else at Hedsor is built.

John Coverdale on guitar

Ken Rankine (or John Monney, yet to be fixed) on bass

Martin Hart on drums,

And on the keyboard this week, Ken McCarthy.

Ken was Dame Vera Lynn’s pianist up until the time she gave up singing, this is what issaid about him on his web site:-

“Ken was both piano player and musical director for the big West End shows - "Bubbling Brown Sugar","Evita", "42nd St.", "Some Like It Hot", "Joseph - - -" and others.

Over the years, he's also worked the clubs and theatres, being "on the road" with firstly Frankie Vaughan, then Roy Castle for years. becoming pianist with Dame Vera Lynn during her last few singing years, performing in many countries for royal occasions.

Much of his work has taken him on major cruise ships - QE2, Oriana, Arcadia, Royal Caribbean and other American lines - where a high musical standard is always required. More recently, Trio Fantasia with its mixture of classics and jazz is gaining national recognition and is a showcase for Ken's brilliant piano technique.”

So, don’t miss this Thursday!

For Zane’s Benefit night on February 17th, the cast so far is just wonderful!

Zane has now seen an oncologist, and he has opted for a form of chemotherapy, that although a "strong" one, may give him a chance of some remission, but not cure. Those of us who pray may like to keep Zane in our prayers, those who think there is a power in positive thought can keep Zane in our thoughts.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Just an Update on the cast for Zane's Benefit Concert.

As you will see from the revised poster, we have some real stars coming to support the night. I hope you will all make it too! As well as being able to purchase tickets from the Stationery Depot in Cookham, you can get them from The Hedsor Social Club on a Thursday, which gives you even more incentive to come this week to hear The Clive Burton Quintet.

When I have more news about the concert, I will update the blog.

In the meantime, news of Zane is that his oncology appointment has been put back from today until February 8th.